No Longer a Sinner - Free Indeed in Christ

 

The average Christian spends very little time meditating on the reality of our death in Christ; yet the truth of this concept releases us from our struggle with sin and our dependence on our human understanding.

We are crucified with Christ; and the life we now live, we live by the faith of Christ in us. The word "I" is eliminated from our vocabulary and the concept of Christ in vital union with us is paramount in the forefront of our mind (Romans 6:3-5).

Not I, but Christ is our mantra, our battle cry and our certainty (Galatians 2:20). We are dead and buried with Christ in God (2 Timothy 2:11; Colossians 2:12, 2:20, 3:3; Romans 6:4). We are risen and alive with Christ in us (Colossians 3:1). We sit with Christ in heavenly places (Ephesians 2:5).

We may suffer with Christ, but we gain our strength and power to live through every trial from Christ who shares with us His glory (Romans 8:17). He is the first born among many brethren, and we have all the attributes of the Trinity within us.

We live, move and have our entire being through Christ in us (Acts 17:28). Our union with Christ is as intimate as the union of the most loving husband and wife (Romans 7:4). He is our foundation upon which we are built (Ephesians 2:20-22).

Therefore, we have no more need to live in sin. We are free indeed in Christ in us, who is our hope of glory, clothed in His majesty from on high (John 8:36; 2 Corinthians 5:2).

Prayer:

Father God, as a branch, we cling to the Vine (John 15:1-10). You created us as Christ's body and He is our head (1 Corinthians 6:15, 19; 12:12). With Christ, we are all members of Your extended family (Romans 5:12, 21; 1 Corinthians 15:22, 45-49). You baptize us into this union with Christ (Galatians 3:27).

Christ sits at Your right hand; yet He also lives on this earth through His worldwide Body. To those who trust Him, He imparts Your power, purity, peace and passion to complete Your work on the earth. Thank You that we are dead to the power of sin's control over our life, and that we can now please You with our every thought, word and deed (Romans 6:11).

Thought for the Day:

We serve at the pleasure of our King; and we move, stay put or pass into eternity according to His eternal will and promises.

The Purpose of God's Spirit in Us

Jesus died once for anyone who believes in Him. We will eventually be raised with Christ into immortality, because death no longer has any mastery over Christ in us.

We used to be slaves to sin, but now we owe our allegiance to Christ as slaves to righteousness (Romans 6:1-18). Each moment of our life, we submit our plans to God's direction (Proverbs 3:5-6).

Through the sanctification process by His Spirit, the carnality in our body and soul decrease and He increases within us (John 3:30). Even our physical life is His.

Through His life within us, although our body may go to the grave, our spirit and soul live forever with God. We are filled with the Holy Spirit and are part of Christ’s Body (Romans 8:9).

The Spirit transforms our life by giving us His fruit (Galatians 5:22-23). We exhibit fewer carnal characteristics in exchange for the nature of God.

We have more love, joy, peace, patience, gentleness, goodness, meekness, self-control and faith. We have less greed, anxiety, deception, evil thoughts and actions, pride, rebellion, impatience and intolerance for others.

God's Spirit calls us to a life of faith and obedience, and we respond by relinquishing the depravity in our life in exchange for the holiness of God (Romans 12:1-2).

Our life is hidden with Christ in God through the Holy Spirit (1 Corinthians 6:17; 2 Peter 1:4; Hebrews 3:14, 6:4; Romans 6:11). As we realize that we are already dead in Christ (Colossians 3:3), we no longer control our life; He does.

God's Spirit is more and more able to express Himself through our body, spirit and soul – our mind, will and emotions – as we live a surrendered life to Him.

Prayer:

Father God, You are waiting for us in Heaven (Matthew 6:9), but You are always with us through Christ and Your Holy Spirit, even to the end of the age of grace (Matthew 28:20). We give You all of the praise and glory due to Your name. We cry "worthy" to the Lamb who gave Himself to be slain for us before You even created the world (1 Peter 1:20).

Thank You that Jesus sent the Spirit of truth to come and guide us into all truth. The Spirit speaks Your words to us and reveals to us what is yet to come (John 16:13). As our triune God, You come to make Your home in everyone who obeys Your Word and the teachings of Christ (John 14:23).

Thought for the Day:

The purpose of God's Spirit within us is to sanctify our carnality, to transform us into the nature of Christ, to guide us into all truth and to comfort us in every affliction.

United with Christ

 

Our salvation unites us with Christ in an eternal union that will never end. This opens up for us a whole new world. Neither death nor judgment will break this everlasting tie. We reap the victorious, joyful, righteous life of Christ in place of our lowly sinful nature. The authentic Born Again Believer lives in Christ, who is our life (Philippians 1:21; Colossians 3:4). The Holy Spirit conforms our soul’s nature to possess all of Christ’s character. He lives, moves and has His being in and through us (1 John 5:5).

We are renewed and holy; but more than that, God actually lives through Christ in us. God perfects us in Christ (Colossians 2:9-10). The world should see the reality of Christ through our life as He is formed in our soul (John 17:23,26; Colossians 1:27; Galatians 4:19). His life in us is our real life (Ephesians 1:23). Our fleshly leanings and desires are part of the old, carnal self, which is now dead in Christ (Galatians 2:20). The sum total of our converted life is: Christ in me, and I in Christ (Colossians 2:9-10). He is all we need.

His fullness dwells within us now. We are no longer our own, because Christ bought us with a price (1 Corinthians 6:19-20). Our life is so perfectly connected to Christ that people see Him instead of us and are drawn to His glory and love. It is up to us to surrender our life totally to God’s will, so that Christ is revealed through us to the world in which we live. Do your family, workmates, community and church see Christ in you; or is your life all about “you”?

We were once dead in sin, lost and undone with no hope of a future life (Ephesians 2:1,5). We rejected the truth of God’s Word, because it sounded like nonsense to us. We had no way to understand these truths, because they were spiritually discerned (1 Corinthians 2:14). Now, our humanity is dead and hidden with Christ in God (Colossians 3:3). We set our hope on the living Lord within us because the Spirit of life makes us righteous (John 14:6; Romans 8:10).

We pass from death to life because the love of Christ manifests through us toward our Christian brothers and the world around us (1 John 3:14). Our whole spirit, body and soul – our mind, will and emotions – are kept holy and blameless by His Spirit until Christ returns (1 Thessalonians 5:23). We are competent as ministers only because of God’s spiritual covenant with mankind (2 Corinthians 3:6). Let us never pass up an opportunity to share with others the change that God brought into our life.

Prayer:

Lord Jesus, You came to bring us abundant life both now and in eternity. We were once lost in sin and degradation, squandering our natural resources and bound up with making a living and finding natural success. Then, You came and transformed us from the kingdom of darkness into the Kingdom of Your glorious life. We find peace, joy and fulfillment that do not depend on this physical world. We look forward to eternity with You in Heaven.

Thought for the Day:

We have eternal, everlasting life in God’s Son. - 1 John 5:11-12; Romans 6:23

Yoked with Christ

 

Alone in this world without Christ in our life, we are not fully alive, because our spirit is dead in sin (Ephesians 2:1-5). We barely make it and even our success is hollow and meaningless. Our sinful flesh and our unholy desires hinder us. When we come to Christ, our humanity dies with Him, and we thrive through the divinity of Jesus within us. We do not live by the flesh, but by the direction of God’s Spirit (Galatians 5:16,25). There is no need for us to worry about anything because we are dead and our life is hidden with Christ in God (Colossians 3:3).

Throughout Paul’s life in Christ, God worked mightily to bring people to salvation and to write many epistles through Paul, even while he was imprisoned (Acts 16:16-40). No matter how much tribulation Paul experienced in the flesh, his focus remained on Christ in him (Romans 6; 2 Corinthians 11:23-12:10). Paul considered the loss of his humanity as trivial, when compared to living in Christ (Philippians 3:9). We too are not only in a personal relationship with Christ, but also united with Him in His death and resurrection (Romans 6:5; 1 Corinthians 6:17). He lives His life through us and instead of us.

When we obsess about any situation in our life to the point that it disturbs our peace, this situation blocks our view of Christ in us. We see nothing but negative emotions such as fear, anger, irritation, depression or jealousy. We are stressed and tense, and this situation rules our life. If you are overcome by your trials and tribulation, you are living out of union with Christ. You are not dead in this area. God gave you this trial to reveal that this issue is still an idol, which is taking His place in your life. The more you surrender these idols on the altar of God, the freer your life becomes.

When we step outside of His will for us, God alone can restore our spirit and soul (Psalm 23:3). Take up Christ’s yoke instead of your own, because He helps us to optimistically and simply bear all of the burdens He allows into our life (Matthew 29:29-30). A yoke is the wooden bar placed over the neck of a pair of animals. It allows them to pull a load together. It unites the two, and they work as one entity. This is such a beautiful picture of how Christ’s divine nature, yoked with our humanity, allows us to bear the burdens of life fluently without missing a step.

God’s uses trials and tribulation to transform our sinful nature into the character of Christ (2 Corinthians 3:18). As we live and walk in God’s divine presence within us, the issues of life are no longer overwhelming to us, because He acts through us in them (John 16:33), as we find comfort under the shadow of His wings (Psalm 17:8). God grace and mercy tenderly transport us through every trial and temptation victoriously. Our humanity is dead to this world and Christ’s divinity takes supremacy within us (Colossians 3:3).

Prayer:

Lord Jesus, You invite us to yoke up with You and to permit You to carry our burdens. We do not crumble under the weight of our circumstances, because we are yoked as one with You. The closer we live in this union with You, the more peacefully life transpires for us, regardless of our circumstances. You set us free from caring about whatever is bothering us. We die to this concern and it no longer has power over our life. If we experience a similar trial, we remind our self that we are dead to this issue. It is no longer a false god or a graven image, which consumes our time and attention. We experience total freedom in this area. Now, Satan has less and less to tempt or badger us with in the future. 

Thought for the Day:

When we follow God’s Spirit each moment of the day, we live in overwhelming peace and gratitude for all He has done, is doing and will continue to do for us, in us and through us (Colossians 3:15).

 

Thank you, Peter DeHart, for the use of your photo.